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MLB ruined Manny Ramirez’s plans to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic by pointing out that retiring in April rather than serving a 100-game suspension means he’s banned from participating in all MLB-affiliated leagues. Instead of just playing in a league that has nothing to do with MLB or actually retiring Ramirez told Enrique…

It wasn’t pretty, but the Twins managed to snap their 11-game losing streak with a walk-off win over the Mariners today, as Rene Tosoni went 3-for-4 and delivered the game-winning double after coming into the day with a .164 batting average. With the win Minnesota improves to 60-95, which means Houston has officially clinched the…

Well, “freely” may be a relative term — they may not want to spend much money — but nor are they likely to be prohibited from doing do by the bankruptcy court: The Dodgers’ status as a bankrupt company should not prevent owner Frank McCourt from offering big contracts this winter, according to parties involved…

Robinson Cano is having another excellent season, hitting .305 with 27 homers, an .891 OPS, and strong defense at second base while playing every game for the Yankees, but his name is rarely brought up in most discussions about MVP candidates. Or at least rarely brought up by anyone but Cano himself. Matt Ehalt of…

UPDATE: Word now is that this is not a disciplinary matter. Rather, Nunez is returning to the Dominican Republic to attend to a personal matter of some kind. Either way, it seems his season is over. Here’s hoping the personal matter isn’t too ugly. 2: 59 PM: There are no details yet, but the Marlins…

Earlier this week all indications were that Stephen Strasburg‘s final start of 2011 would come Friday against the Braves and the Nationals would not bring him back on normal rest to pitch the season finale on September 28. However, yesterday manager Davey Johnson told Bill Ladson of MLB.com that he’d like to see Strasburg start…

As time goes on, this is far less of a baseball story, but so many of you have continued to ask and voice concern about Bryan Stow’s condition, that I feel it worthy of providing updates from time to time. The latest: Stow’s family has posted an update of his condition on their website. And…

Confirming reports from earlier this week, MLB executive vice president of labor relations Rob Manfred told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com that Manny Ramirez is indeed banned from participating in an MLB-sanctioned winter ball league. Ramirez had planned to play in the Dominican Republic, but to do so he’d have to get permission from Bud Selig…

No, I’m not inviting you guys to have that debate here for the 100th time this year. I’m merely directing you to The Hardball Times where Brad Johnson and John McCann debate the matter more formally than we are accustomed to doing. There’s numbers there and stuff. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

No one traded at this point in the season is eligible for the playoffs, but that apparently didn’t stop the Red Sox from calling the Mets in search of rotation help. According to John Thomase of the Boston Herald the Red Sox wanted to acquire veteran left-hander Chris Capuano in time to make Sunday’s start…

Earlier this week Lance Berkman said that it was all about the money. So the Cardinals came through with the money: they’ve agreed to a one-year deal. The terms have not been disclosed, but some people are tweeting around that it’s a $12 million deal. We’ll update if and when that number is confirmed. Which…

Tom Tango launched his annual “scouting report by the fans for the fans,” which is your shot to play a scout by entering in personal observations about the players you watch on a regular basis to become part of the huge collection of scouting reports compiled entirely by fans. Take a look at the instructions…

I’d say there were approximately 50 questions on the theme of “why do the Braves suck?” Please forgive me for not answering them all. Q: Why do the Braves suck? Because we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.…

Wilson Ramos went 3-for-3 with a homer last night and is now hitting .267 with a .331 on-base percentage and .443 slugging percentage in 109 games for the Nationals. Those certainly aren’t jaw-dropping raw numbers, but Ramos’ production adds up to an adjusted OPS+ of 112 and that’s damn impressive for a 23-year-old rookie catcher.…

Vlad Guerrero has been hitting the ball well lately, leading the charge as the Orioles have done a damn fine job of playing spoiler in the American League wild card race. Also, as Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun points out, he’s three hits behind Julio Franco for the record of most hits for a…

Jason Repko was hit in the helmet by a Justin Masterson fastball Sunday and has unfortunately joined Twins teammates Denard Span and Justin Morneau in suffering a concussion. According to trainer Rick McWane “he had a CT scan and an MRI exam on his head and they both came back normal” and Repko hasn’t officially…

A day after everyone hated on the Marlins allegedly new logo, another logo leak has occurred. This time it’s the Blue Jays, and Paul Lukas of UniWatch has confirmed it’s legit. I like the return to the old school bird. The splash of red from the maple leaf has always bugged me whenever the Jays…

Jair Jurrjens has already been ruled out for the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs because of ongoing knee problems, but the rehabbing right-hander threw a 50-pitch bullpen session yesterday. Jurrjens said afterward that “it went really good,” but Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports that he’s “questionable” at best…

We haven’t heard much about Chuck Knoblauch in the nine years since he retired from baseball. He was named in the Mitchell Report and had to testify in front of a grand jury about it, but otherwise, he’s been an invisible man. Today there’s a feature story on him in the Star-Tribune. It’s not the…